Apple’s long-rumored foldable iPhone may have just taken another step closer to reality – or at least another step closer to the internet’s imagination. A newly leaked replica model, believed to represent Apple’s upcoming “iPhone Ultra” foldable device, is now circulating online, revealing what could be one of the company’s boldest design shifts in years.
According to a report from Notebookcheck, the replica showcases a foldable phone with curved edges, a slim profile, and a surprisingly familiar design language that many users are already comparing to existing Android foldables.
If the leak turns out to be accurate, Apple’s first foldable iPhone may not look radically different from competitors after all.
Apple’s foldable iPhone may prioritize familiarity over reinvention
The leaked white replica model shows a book-style foldable design with rounded corners, curved side rails, and a dual rear camera setup positioned vertically on the back panel. The overall appearance has triggered immediate comparisons to devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold lineup and several foldables from Chinese brands.
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That familiarity is especially interesting because Apple has historically avoided entering product categories until it believes the technology and user experience are mature enough. The company has reportedly spent years testing multiple foldable prototypes internally while delaying a commercial launch over concerns related to hinge durability, display creasing, and long-term reliability.
iPhone Ultra PrototypeIce Universe
The “iPhone Ultra” branding attached to the leak also aligns with previous rumors suggesting Apple may reserve foldable devices for an entirely new ultra-premium category above the Pro Max lineup.
Reports over the past year have repeatedly suggested Apple’s first foldable iPhone could arrive with a large inner display, titanium construction, and a significantly thinner hinge design compared to current foldable competitors. Some analysts also believe Apple is prioritizing minimal display creasing as one of the defining features of the device.
The replica itself, however, suggests Apple may be taking a more conservative design approach externally while focusing its innovation on refinement rather than visual experimentation.
Why this matters
Foldable smartphones remain one of the few major hardware categories where Apple still has no product presence. Meanwhile, companies like Samsung, Huawei, OPPO, and Honor have spent years iterating on foldable hardware.
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iPhone UltraSourav/Twitter
Apple entering the foldable market could dramatically reshape consumer interest in the category, much like the company previously did with smartwatches and tablets. At the same time, the leak raises an important question: Does Apple still need to create visually unique hardware, or is perfecting usability and ecosystem integration enough?
What happens next
Apple has not officially acknowledged the existence of a foldable iPhone, and current reports suggest the device is still at least a year or two away from launch. Multiple analysts expect Apple’s first foldable device to arrive sometime around late 2027 or beyond, likely positioned as an ultra-premium product with a very high price tag.
For now, replica leaks like this mainly offer hints about Apple’s possible design direction rather than final hardware confirmation. Still, if the rumors prove accurate, Apple’s foldable future may look less like a sci-fi experiment and more like a refined version of a category Android brands have already spent years building.
The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB), the country’s national authority for cybersecurity, warned on Friday that threat actors are now exploiting a recently patched critical Windows Netlogon vulnerability in attacks.
Netlogon is a remote procedure call (RPC) interface and a core Microsoft Windows Server background service that authenticates services and users on Windows domain-based networks.
Microsoft patched this vulnerability (CVE-2026-41089) during the May 2026 Patch Tuesday, describing it as a stack-based buffer overflow in Windows Netlogon that allows attackers without privileges to gain remote code execution on targeted domain controllers.
“An attacker could send a specially crafted network request to a Windows server that is acting as a domain controller,” it said. “If successful, this could cause the Netlogon service to improperly handle the request, potentially allowing the attacker to run code on the affected system without needing to sign in or have prior access.”
CVE-2026-41089 impacts all currently supported Windows Server versions, including the latest release, Windows Server 2025.
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According to a security advisory published by the company on May 12, the vulnerability was discovered by Windows Attack Research & Protection (WARP), an internal offensive cybersecurity and engineering research team at Microsoft.
On Friday, Belgium’s national cybersecurity authority (CCB) warned that attackers are now actively exploiting the CVE-2026-41089 security flaw in the wild and urged admins to immediately patch vulnerable servers.
“CVE-2026-41089 in #Windows #Netlogon is now actively #exploited in the wild and could lead to #RCE. CVSS(3.1): 9.8,” the CBC warned in a Friday tweet. “Patch as quickly as possible.”
CVE-2026-41089 active exploitation alert (CCB)
However, the CCB didn’t provide further details on these ongoing attacks and didn’t respond to a BleepingComputer request for more information.
Microsoft has yet to update its advisory, and a company spokesperson didn’t reply to an email from BleepingComputer requesting confirmation that CVE-2026-41089 is now actively exploited.
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Two weeks ago, Microsoft shared mitigation measures for YellowKey (CVE-2026-45585), a Windows BitLocker zero-day vulnerability that grants access to protected drives, described as a backdoor by anonymous security researcher ‘Nightmare Eclipse,’ who also disclosed it and published a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit.
Initially, Microsoft has reacted to Nightmare Eclipse with thinly veiled threats of legal action, followed by a tweet saying that the company “will work with law enforcement as appropriate” when “an individual breaks the law and engages in malicious activity causing real harm to our customers.”
Automated pentesting tools deliver real value, but they were built to answer one question: can an attacker move through the network? They were not built to test whether your controls block threats, your detection rules fire, or your cloud configs hold.
This guide covers the 6 surfaces you actually need to validate.
During his keynote at GTC Taipei, NVIDIA chief Jensen Huang laid out a clear shift. People will soon treat their computers less like tools that wait for commands and more like capable partners that can take on real work when asked. RTX Spark sits at the center of that change. The new processor marks NVIDIA’s first complete silicon solution built specifically for Windows PCs. It combines a powerful graphics engine with an efficient central processor in one tightly linked package. This setup brings the full range of NVIDIA’s software tools directly to laptops and small desktops without requiring a separate graphics card.
On the graphics side, the chip is based on the Blackwell architecture, with 6,144 CUDA cores that use fifth-generation FP4 precision to conduct AI calculations with ease. A 20-core proprietary Grace processor, co-developed with MediaTek, handles general computing tasks and connects to the graphics side via a super-fast chip-to-chip interface. The design shares memory between the two, allowing configurations of up to 128GB of unified memory. NVIDIA claims that this arrangement will increase AI performance beyond one petaflop.
Beyond Performance: The Intel Core i5-13420H processor goes beyond performance to let your PC do even more at once. With a first-of-its-kind design…
AI-Powered Graphics: The state-of-the-art GeForce RTX 4050 graphics (194 AI TOPS) provide stunning visuals and exceptional performance. DLSS…
Visual Excellence: See your digital conquests unfold in vibrant Full HD on a 15.6″ screen, perfectly timed at a quick 165Hz refresh rate and a wide…
That tech combination enables some real-world advantages. For example, systems can run massive language models with 120 billion parameters and context windows containing up to a million tokens on the device from the start. Users can also work with personal AI agents that run locally, keeping their data private and allowing them to navigate between apps without constantly sending queries to the cloud. Creative tasks benefit as well, as video editing now supports 12K resolution with full decoder support, 3D scenes render more smoothly, and Adobe and other toolsets experience significant improvements in their AI-powered capabilities.
Gaming performance improves significantly, as laptops can now achieve high frame rates at 1440p while utilizing ray tracing and frame generation technology familiar from NVIDIA’s other platforms. Furthermore, this hardware is designed to handle new rendering approaches coming to games and creative apps. NVIDIA collaborated extensively with Microsoft to make Windows compatible with this architecture, which includes optimizations for workload scheduling, power management, and increased support for neural rendering in DirectX. A new runtime dubbed NVIDIA OpenShell gives consumers and developers more control over how their AI agents act, including rules for task routing and data protection. To top it all off, new Windows security capabilities have been added to keep agent activity under control while maintaining user oversight.
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The RTX Spark laptops are designed to be exceedingly thin, with some measuring only 14mm thick and weighing 3 pounds, but still providing all-day battery life. Screen sizes range from 14 to 16 inches, with aluminum enclosures and high-end screens that use sync technology. Desktops will also be available in compact sizes for individuals who prefer to use a stationary system while maintaining the same capabilities.
Multiple manufacturers, including ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft Surface, and MSI, intend to debut products this autumn, with Acer and GIGABYTE following closely behind. HP, for example, will offer the super-slim OmniBook Ultra 16 and OmniBook X 14. The first batch of systems are focused at the high end of the market, but NVIDIA and its partners anticipate that lower-end configurations with less memory will become more affordable in the future.
“The company best known for powering the AI boom is coming for the PC,” reports Axios.
Nvidia’s CEO unveiled a new ARM-based “N1X processor made alongside Microsoft,” reports CNBC, that “will be incorporated into a new RTX Spark superchip, debuting in the fall on a fresh line of Windows PCs from Microsoft, Dell, HP, ASUS, Lenovo and MSI.”
It was only a matter of time before NVIDIA released a powerful system-on-a-chip (SOC) to take on AMD’s Ryzen AI Max and Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X2 chips. At Computex today, NVIDIA unveiled the RTX Spark, a “superchip” meant to give both laptops and small desktops fast AI and graphics performance…
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The company says it offers 1 petaflop of AI computing power, and that it has 6,144 Blackwell RTX cores and 20 Mediatek Arm CPU cores. NVIDIA claims it’s similar to the RTX 5070 laptop GPU but with much lower power draw. RTX Spark also has an NPU that’s fast enough to be part of Microsoft’s Copilot+ initiative, which requires a 40 TOPS NPU, but NVIDIA says it’s mainly touting the tensor cores as part of the chip’s Blackwell GPU for AI performance. RTX Spark’s GPU can directly draw on the chip’s large pool of unified memory, which can span from 16GB to 128GB, and the chip itself can use anywhere from single-digit wattage up to 80W…
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang positions RTX Spark as a complete reinvention of the PC, eventually turning them more into devices meant for AI agents than manual human input… NVIDIA has been working together with Microsoft for “several years” while designing the RTX Spark, according to NVIDIA representatives… In a blog post provided to media, Microsoft head of Windows and devices, Pavan Davuluri, noted that the company optimized Windows 11’s workload profile scheduling for the RTX Spark. “Whether you’re checking your email or running an agent locally to debug code, the Windows scheduler on RTX Spark will ensure you get the best performance and efficiency out of your CPU,” he wrote.
Flight 236 left Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday night en route to Palma de Mallorca but reversed course about an hour after takeoff. Read Entire Article Source link
Filling up your gas tank stings right now. I go to Costco specifically to save money on gas, and even there, I’m spending at least $15 more than usual to fill up my Volkswagen Jetta. If you drive a truck or an SUV, you already know a trip to the pump can run you well over $100.
Summer is right around the corner, which usually means lake days, beach runs, road trips, and generally getting out more often. That also means using gas to get there. With gas averaging over $4.50 per gallon nationally, every little trip adds up faster than it used to.
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That got me thinking about the trips that probably don’t need a car at all, like quick grocery runs, going to a coffee shop down the road or going to the gym for a daily workout. For those kinds of trips, an electric scooter starts to make a lot of sense.
While an electric scooter won’t take you on a multi-hour summer road trip, it’s a solid alternative to those short drives we make without thinking about them. So I tested out the Gyroor C1 Pro and dug into the data to find out how much money it can actually save you on those short, everyday trips.
We do the math: E-scooter vs. gas car
Before buying an electric scooter, it helps to know if it will actually save you money or if it just feels like it does. So, let’s run the numbers.
AAA puts the national average for regular unleaded gas at $4.52 per gallon. If your car gets 25 miles per gallon, which is typical for a sedan, you’re paying about 18 cents per mile.
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The Gyroor C1 Pro gets you up to 25 miles on a single charge. You plug it into an outlet, like you would a laptop, and you can get back to a full battery in about 5 hours. The scooter runs on a 36-volt 10.4Ah battery with a total capacity of 374 watt-hours. Watt-hours measure how much energy a battery can store. The higher the number of watts, the farther you can go on one charge.
The national average electricity rate is 17.65 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the Energy Information Administration. At this rate, a full charge costs about 66 cents. That works out to $0.003 per mile, which is 60 times cheaper per mile than driving a gas car.
Here’s the formula we used to get there:
Cost Per Mile = (Battery Capacity in Wh ➗1,000) X Electricity Rate per kWh / Range in miles
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$0.003 per mile = (374 ➗ 1,000) X $0.1765 ➗25
Comparing the cost of a gas car vs. an e-scooter
If you swap out one short car trip per day at about 3 miles each way, that’s 168 miles a month that you no longer need gas for. In a realistic sense, this looks like your coffee run, a trip to the gym or another errand you’ve been driving to out of habit. Here’s how the cost compares for using the Gyroor C1 Pro electric scooter versus a gas car.
Costs of a gas car vs. an e-scooter
Comparing the costs of a gas car versus an e-scooter.
For the same 18 cents it costs to drive one mile in a gas car, you could ride the Gyroor C1 Pro about 60 miles. Replacing just one daily short trip with an electric scooter saves you nearly $30 per month. Make it a habit and swap a second trip, and you’re looking at closer to $60.
If you drive a truck or large SUV that gets lower gas mileage than a typical sedan, your savings will be even higher. Either way, charging an electric scooter costs significantly less than filling up at the gas pump.
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Hidden savings add to that total. Car ownership comes with several costs that add up over the year, such as registration fees, oil changes and insurance. As someone who hates paying for parking, being able to lock up to a bike rack for free makes my day every time.
At $30 in monthly savings, the Gyroor C1 Pro pays for itself in about 15 months at its current sale price of $460 (regularly $600) before you add in savings from parking and other car-related fees. A well-maintained electric scooter can last three to five years, meaning years of savings after the scooter has paid for itself. If you’re filling up weekly, you’ll burn through that same $459 in less than two months at current gas prices.
Gyroor C1 Pro
The Gyroor C1 Pro’s sibling scooter, the C1S, made CNET’s best electric scooter list as the top pick for backpack-free errands. The C1 Pro takes everything CNET loves about the C1S and adds more range, power and a higher weight capacity (at a slightly higher price).
I had never ridden a seated scooter before, so the motion took a ride or two to click. But the whole experience of riding a scooter is so much fun, it makes my inner child come out in full force. The seat is comfortable, so you can actually enjoy the ride instead of wanting to get it over with. It comes in pink or green, so you can show a bit of personality with your ride.
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The basket storage is a major part of what makes it great for everyday use. On a standing scooter, you’re stuck with a backpack and whatever fits inside it. The C1 Pro’s storage is spacious enough to carry groceries and a work bag without putting any of the stress on your shoulders and back.
The LED display shows your speed and battery level, so it’s easy to stay aware of your pace. There is also a headlight built in for nighttime rides, which is super helpful if you’re in an area with fewer street lights. The dual suspension keeps the ride smooth and easy to stay steady on two wheels. When I pushed the scooter to its highest speed (18.6 mph), it felt quick but not scary.
The 25-mile range comfortably covers most of my daily use cases. Plug it in overnight and you can start the morning with a full charge.
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The C1 Pro’s display panel shows speed and battery life.
Faith Foushee/CNET
The reality check: Minor negatives
Where you live plays a big role in how much you get out of this scooter. If you’re in a city with mild weather, bike lanes and greenways, the C1 Pro fits into daily life pretty seamlessly. In areas with frequent heavy rains or harsh winters, the riding season will be shorter and slow the payback period. However, the battery compartment is sealed, and the IPX4 rating handles a light drizzle, but I wouldn’t recommend riding it through a storm.
Bike lanes and existing scooter culture make a big difference. In cities where sharing the road with scooters and bicycles is already normal, the transition is smoother. Areas without that infrastructure take more adjustment as you’re learning to ride as an exposed person next to traffic. I recommend finding the routes that fit you, including backroads, greenways and less hectic areas if possible. It’s not always the fastest route, but it can be a lot more enjoyable.
At 48 pounds, it’s not the lightest scooter on the market, but that’s due to the trade-off of having a seat, dual suspension and basket storage. It folds down easily enough to load into a trunk or to store away when you’re not riding. I wish it could fold small enough to fit in a suitcase and travel with me everywhere.
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One other thing worth noting is that this scooter is best for a single rider. You could fit a small or medium-size dog in the basket, but it’s not the best scooter for shuttling kids around or running family errands together.
Off for another errand.
Faith Foushee/CNET
Car vs. electric scooter: The verdict
If your daily routine involves a handful of short trips you could easily make without a car, the Gyroor C1 Pro electric scooter will quickly pay for itself and then some. It’s a great fit for your office commute, or for a quick ride to a coffee shop, gym, grocery store or getting around a college campus. It allows you to skip the traffic, eliminates parking fees and costs a fraction of what a gas car does per mile.
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It’s not the right fit for families moving more than one person or for those in a climate that would limit you to riding for only a few months of the year.
Replacing just one car trip a day with the Gyroor C1 Pro can save you around $30 a month, and you’ll have fun while doing it. If you go with the pink one, you’ll be twinning with me. At its current sale price of $460, it’s a fraction of what you could spend on gas this summer alone.
AI companies have grown into data-hungry entities as their models require ever-larger datasets to train on. To meet that need, many AI startups defy long-standing internet conventions — like respecting robots.txt files, which signal to automated crawlers which parts of a website are off-limits — and scrape data aggressively. This has forced websites to restrict access to their data and, in some cases, strike licensing deals with AI companies. Fitness and social running company Strava is making a move in this direction by restricting its website and introducing fees for developer access.
To stop scraping, the company is increasing security around its website and will now only allow authenticated users to view certain data. Earlier, users were able to see details like public profiles and fitness club listings without logging in. The company is putting all that data behind authentication to protect it from unauthorized AI scraping.
On the API front, developers could previously start building apps on Strava through a free, tiered access program — applying for basic access first, then requesting more as their app grew. Now the company is adding a flat $11.99 per month fee for all developers, though it noted the price may vary by geography.
Strava said its developer community has grown from 185,000 members last year to 241,000 this year, and the company plans to continue supporting them. As part of that, Strava also plans to add support for Model Context Protocol (MCP), an emerging standard that lets AI assistants and apps access external data in a structured way, giving Strava more control over exactly what gets shared and how.
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The company is also planning to retire some API endpoints — discrete access points that let outside apps pull specific data, like club details — to protect user data. Strava had already tightened API rules in 2024, banning its use for AI training and limiting third-party apps from displaying other users’ data. Those changes drew backlash from developers who said their apps would be severely affected.
While some developers may accept paying a subscription fee, sunsetting certain API endpoints could still impact dependent apps. Strava is giving developers a 90-day grace period before making these changes.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Michael Martin, Strava’s CEO, said unchecked AI scraping could be the death knell of the public internet.
“AI companies are ruthlessly scraping public websites, given their endless need for training data, which is degrading site performance across the board,” Martin said. We’ve had multiple instances in the last several months where performance has been diminished and, in some cases, impaired. Beyond scraping the public sites, they’re also trying to use our API to get access to our data, ignoring API terms.”
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He noted that Strava has refused overtures from leading AI labs seeking data licensing deals. He specifically singled out Perplexity, saying the AI search startup routed its scraping through aggregator services to obscure its origin despite being turned away. This is consistent with Perplexity having been accused of similar behavior elsewhere in the past.
Martin also flagged server overload caused by poorly built vibe-coded apps, whose API calls are often inefficiently structured and generate a disproportionate load on Strava’s systems. It’s a pattern: when Meta banned third-party chatbots from WhatsApp last year, it made a similar argument about system overhead.
The timing probably isn’t coincidental. Strava confidentially filed for an IPO earlier this year, and its move to protect its data may be intended to signal data discipline to prospective investors. The comparison to Reddit’s 2024 crackdown on API access is one Martin was quick to address. Unlike Reddit, which priced API access by the number of calls (making it unaffordable for many app developers), Strava is betting a flat fee keeps the developer ecosystem intact.
“We want the users to feel that they own their data and feel comfortable with how we are controlling and securing it. But we want the developers to continue to flourish and grow,” Martin said.
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Apple’s flagship iPhone is well-designed and packs powerful cameras, but it lacks the software capabilities (and customization depth) of the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Pros
Cameras are outstanding
A19 Pro chipset is plenty powerful
Center Stage camera is compelling and useful
Cons
iOS 26 has its issues
Apple’s AI features are incomplete at the time of writing
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra boasts better AI features, clever Privacy Display technology, and the S Pen over the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but you don’t get any MagSafe-style wireless charging or an iPhone-quality selfie camera.
Both are big, powerful, expensive, and built around the same basic promise: you get huge displays, elite cameras, long battery life, high-end performance, and a growing number of AI tools if you’re willing to pay the high asking price.
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The iPhone 17 Pro Max and Galaxy S26 Ultra are also very different phones. Apple’s flagship is the cleaner, more tightly integrated option, offering iOS and MagSafe. Samsung’s Ultra is the more maximalist device, with the S Pen, a sharper display, a more flexible camera setup, and a software experience packed with Galaxy AI and Google-powered features.
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For many people, this choice will come down to ecosystem.
If you already use Apple products like the Apple Watch, MacBook, and iPad, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has an obvious pull. If you prefer Android, multitasking, stylus support, and more control over how your phone works, the Galaxy S26 Ultra makes a very strong case.
But there are still big differences in price, design, display, cameras, performance, software, and battery life between these two phones — so let’s break them down.
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iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: specs comparison
Before we dig into the details, here’s an overview of both phones’ key specs:
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iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: price and availability
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The iPhone 17 Pro Max went on sale in September 2025, with prices starting at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149 for the 256GB model. The 17 Pro Max is also available with 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB of storage, with the top configuration rising to $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,799.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra arrived later, in March 2026, and starts at $1,299 / £1,249 / AU$2,149, making it slightly more expensive than Apple’s flagship in the US, slightly more affordable in the UK, and level in Australia at launch.
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It’s worth noting that the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s storage runs from 256GB to 1TB; there is no 2TB option, unlike with the iPhone.
Both phones are widely available through their makers, carriers, and major retailers, so this is less about finding stock and more about finding the right deal that suits you.
Winner: Tie — unless you specifically need 2TB of storage, in which case the iPhone 17 Pro Max takes it.
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iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: design
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
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There is no getting away from the fact that these are both very large phones, but Samsung does more to make its Ultra feel slightly more manageable.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is slightly taller and wider than the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but it is much thinner at 7.9mm and noticeably lighter at 214g.
The softened corners also help it feel less slab-like than older Ultra models, while the built-in S Pen remains Samsung’s clearest hardware advantage.
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The iPhone 17 Pro Max has the more dramatic redesign versus its predecessor. Apple moved to an aluminum unibody (which facilitates the inclusion of a new vapor cooling chamber), added a full-width camera plateau, and kept both the Action button and Camera Control.
As such, the 17 Pro Max feels like a clearer break from the previous few Pro Max models, and the new thermal design gives the changes a practical purpose beyond looks.
Still, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the easier phone to live with day-to-day, giving you the same 6.9-inch screen size in a slimmer, lighter body, while also finding room for a stylus.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
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iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: display
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Both phones give you an almost tablet-sized 6.9-inch OLED display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, so either one is built for streaming, gaming, editing photos, reading, and general big-screen phone use.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max has the brighter panel on paper, with a peak outdoor brightness of 3,000 nits, which gives it an edge if you often use your phone outside.
Samsung fights back with resolution and features. The Galaxy S26 Ultra’s screen is sharper than the iPhone’s display, and its 1-120Hz refresh range gives it the same smooth scrolling and power-saving flexibility you would expect from a top-end flagship.
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Samsung’s new Privacy Display feature also gives it a practical advantage in public spaces, especially if you often work from cafes or public transport.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: cameras
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
The iPhone 17 Pro Max has a simpler camera pitch: it’s got three 48MP rear cameras, covering main, ultra-wide, and telephoto shots, plus a new 18MP Center Stage front camera.
Apple is offering a more balanced system than previous Pro Max models — especially now the telephoto camera can handle 4x optical zoom and 8x optical-quality shots — and the selfie camera is also a real upgrade; it uses subject tracking to automatically keep you in the frame, and lets you switch between portrait and landscape modes.
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Samsung gives you more hardware to play with. The S26 Ultra has a 200MP main camera, 50MP ultra-wide, 10MP 3x telephoto, and 50MP telephoto for longer-range shots, plus a 12MP selfie camera with a wider field of view.
Its camera setup is less of a clean overhaul than Apple’s, but the extra lens and longer zoom range make it more flexible, especially if you often shoot subjects at a distance.
For video, the Galaxy S26 Ultra supports 8K shooting at 30fps, whereas the iPhone is capped at 4K at 120 fps. That said, with its Apple ProRes and ProRes RAW support, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is our favored option for consistent, high-quality video results.
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This comparison is a close call because the iPhone 17 Pro Max has the stronger selfie upgrade, a very consistent rear camera setup, and impressive video capabilities. The Galaxy S26 Ultra still has the edge for pure versatility, with more lenses, more zoom reach, and the bigger main sensor.
Winner: Tie
iPhone 17 Pro Max camera samples
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra camera samples
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: performance and software
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
The iPhone 17 Pro Max runs on Apple’s A19 Pro chip, with improved cooling to help it hold high performance for longer.
The 17 Pro Max feels built for heavy use, from gaming and video editing to AI features, and iOS 26 also benefits from Apple’s usual joined-up approach, with the chip, hardware, software, and wider ecosystem all working together.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra counters with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, plus either 12GB or 16GB of RAM. It is a true ultra-premium Android flagship, with more flexibility for multitasking, split-screen apps, S Pen notes, customisation, and productivity.
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Samsung is better for flexibility, stylus support, and Android customisation, but the iPhone’s combination of Apple silicon, iOS, cooling, and ecosystem integration gives it more cohesive performance in our testing.
Winner: iPhone 17 Pro Max
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: battery
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(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 5,088mAh battery, based on reported capacity figures (Apple does not share these details officially), and Apple rates it for up to 37 hours of video playback.
In our day-to-day use, it’s comfortably an all-day phone, with enough headroom for heavy camera use, navigation, streaming, and gaming. It also supports fast USB-C charging and 25W MagSafe/Qi2 wireless charging.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery, so there is very little difference between these two devices in terms of raw capacity, and indeed it carried well past 24 hours of operation in our testing.
Samsung has the advantage for wired charging, with 60W speeds that should get you topped up faster than the iPhone. The S26 also supports 25W wireless charging, putting it on par with Apple there, though there’s no MagSafe-style wireless charging to speak of.
So, this comparison is close… again. The iPhone has excellent endurance and the convenience of MagSafe, but Samsung’s faster wired charging is more useful when you need a quick refill before heading out.
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Winner: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: verdict
(Image credit: Future)
The iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra are — unsurprisingly — close enough that the “best” choice depends less on raw power and more on how you actually use your phone.
Choose the iPhone 17 Pro Max if you want the smoother all-round experience. Its biggest strengths are consistency, ecosystem integration, long-term performance, and a camera system that feels easy to trust. It’s also the better fit if you already use Apple’s other products.
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Choose the Galaxy S26 Ultra if you want the phone that simply does more. The S Pen, sharper display, lighter design, longer camera reach, faster charging, and broader AI toolkit make it the more versatile device, especially for power users.
Overall, the Galaxy S26 Ultra wins more individual categories, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max may still be the better buy for many people. Samsung has the stronger spec-sheet argument; Apple has the more cohesive flagship experience.
Ray Reconstruction is designed to replace the hand-tuned denoisers traditionally used in ray-traced and path-traced games. Read Entire Article Source link
When Paramount Plus first arrived on the scene, the streaming service made a name for itself as the destination for fans of Paramount-owned brands. You could watch CBS shows such as Survivor and The Amazing Race alongside nostalgic favorites from MTV and Comedy Central, including The Challenge, South Park, Paramount films and more. Paramount Plus has expanded even more since then, becoming the home of UFC fights, Taylor Sheridan‘s Yellowstone universe and his standalone series such as Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King and The Madison.
This June sees the return of The Agency, the CIA thriller with a cast that can’t be beat — Michael Fassbender stars, alongside Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith and Richard Gere. Also arriving this month is the British dramatic thriller Wild Cherry, which binge drops on June 24. You can catch these shows, plus the return of two Tyler Perry-produced dramas, a livestream of the Tony Awards and more in the coming weeks.
Here are the new releases we’re most excited to see on Paramount Plus this June.
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June 2
Paramount Plus
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Devotion: Obedience or Betrayal
Why watch: People will definitely be talking about this little-known religious sect once this show comes out.
The religious community of Gloriavale in New Zealand is a small, isolated group that most people have never heard of… until now. Devotion: Obedience or Betrayal is a new three-part docuseries that reveals the secrets of the little-known community that is now being accused by many past members of abuse, control and mistreatment. The series arrives on June 2.
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June 7
CBS
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The 79th Annual Tony Awards
Why watch: You need a safe space to have your opinions about the Chess revival and CATS: The Jellicle Ball confirmed.
The 79th Annual Tony Awards — hosted by Pink — will honor the best of Broadway; some of this year’s biggest nominees include The Lost Boys, Schmigadoon!, and the latest revival of Death of a Salesman. The ceremony will stream live on Paramount Plus on Sunday, June 7, from 8 – 11 p.m. ET, and it will also be broadcast on CBS.
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June 10
BET
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All the Queen’s Men (Season 5)
Why watch: This is the fifth and final season of the popular series with lots of loose ends to tie up.
Eva Marcille stars as as Marilyn “Madam” DeVille, the proprietor of an all-male exotic dance club in Atlanta in All the Queen’s Men. The show originally ran on BET Plus for its first four seasons and will now conclude with season 5, streaming on Paramount Plus. The first half of this season will consist of eight episodes, with more dropping later this year to conclude the series.
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June 21
Paramount Plus
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The Agency
Why watch: There might not be a more impressive cast than this one.
The Agency, a George Clooney-produced spy drama starring Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith and Richard Gere (and Katherine Waterston and Hugh Bonneville… the list goes on), is back for season 2 this month. (The series was previously known as The Agency: Central Intelligence in its first season, just in case you were confused as to whether it was the same show.) All 10 episodes of the new season will be available to stream on Sunday, June 21. In the series, Fassbender plays an undercover CIA agent named Martian who returns to his everyday life in London after living under cover for years in Ethiopia. Soon, his two worlds start to overlap and he finds himself betrayed and betraying others who trust him.
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June 24
Natalie Seery/BBC Studios/Firebird Pictures/Paramount Plus
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Wild Cherry
Why watch: This BBC thriller was acclaimed when it came out in the UK and now it’s coming to the US.
All six episodes of the British thriller Wild Cherry will arrive on Paramount Plus on June 24. The limited series originally debuted on BBC One last November. In it, two mothers, played by House of the Dragon star Eve Best and The Penguin’s Carmen Ejogo, previously close friends, are forced to take sides after their teen daughters (played by Imogen Faires and Amelia May) are implicated in a shocking scandal at their private school. As a result, the facade of their perfect, tony lives is shattered, along with their relationships.
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June 30
Paramount Plus
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Tyler Perry’s Ruthless (Season 6)
Why watch: Tyler Perry fans rejoice: this popular show is back after a two-year break.
Like All The Queen’s Men, Tyler Perry’s Ruthless began as a series on BET and its latest season will stream exclusively on Paramount Plus. In the sixth season of the show, which premieres on June 30, Melissa L. WIlliams returns as Ruth, a member of the Rakudushi cult, a religious group with ever-changing internal alliances and often dangerous and disturbing practices. This season, the FBI is closing in on them and the future of the cult hangs in the balance.
Molly Lynch of Hollins University and Michael Weselcouch of Roanoke College approached the problem less like programmers and more like experimentalists. Instead of recreating a traditional algorithm inside Minecraft – a process that typically involves building elaborate in-game logic systems – they leaned on probability and the game’s existing mechanics… Read Entire Article Source link
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